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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Mar 17 2025, 3:45pm
Post #1 of 7
(64151 views)
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It's the occasional reading thread!
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A very happy St. Patrick's Day!
I am continuing to have trouble finding fiction I enjoy listening to. I have quite a few series mystery novels on my Kindle and will make a point of starting some of those while I also make a point of listening to non-fiction for a while.
That said, while I started two different audiobook novels and gave up on both, I did enjoy the penultimate book in my bundle of Golden Age mysteries by Josephine Tey. Miss Pym Disposes is only nominally a mystery. Much of it is a comedy of manners. Miss Pym spends several weeks lecturing at a woman's college, gets to know the students, and only at the end is faced with a mystery and related moral dilemma. This is beautifully written and plotted, and the ending left this reader, at least, murmuring, "Whoa!" and "Wow!" in equal measure.
I then went for a comfort listen, Poirot Investigates: A Hercule Poirot Collection (Hercule Poirot Mysteries, Book 3) , written by Agatha Christie and read by Richard Armitage. These aren't Christie's classics but are still enjoyable---especially since I could do a compare and contrast with the David Suchet dramatizations. Some of the stories remind me of Sherlock Holmes stories, and I wonder if Christie deliberately chose those so she could put her own twist on the plot.
I'm now listening to another comfortable book, this time non-fiction: What I Ate in One Year, written and read by actor and foodie Stanley Tucci. This is what the title says, a diary of his year cooking, traveling, and spending time with friends and family. His dry, wry wit and positive attitude come through clearly.
I'm reading a non-fiction book on my Kindle in fits and starts. It's Making a Point: The Persnickety Story of English Punctuation, by David Crystal. I enjoy books on language and writing, and this one has some fascinating moments. Crystal mentions the classic Eats, Shoots, and Leaves many times, admitting his own much more academic approach to the subject.
I'm also reading an actual paper book, another one by science writer Mary Roach, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law. (In other words, how people deal with bears raiding their garbage cans or leopards picking off tea plantation workers in India.) Like Roach's other books, this one is highly entertaining as well as informative, filled with accounts of her deep dive into researching her subject. Her writing is excellent, funny and lucid.
So what have you been reading?
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
(This post was edited by Lily Fairbairn on Mar 17 2025, 3:46pm)
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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Mar 17 2025, 4:53pm
Post #2 of 7
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...that my difficulty finding enjoyable fiction audiobooks no way, no how extends to LotR, which I am still listening to Andy Serkis read. I'm up to the point where Merry and Pippin give Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli an eyewitness account of the ents' attack on Isengard.
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
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Otaku-sempai
Elvenhome
Mar 17 2025, 7:17pm
Post #3 of 7
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Having gotten a real kick back in the day out of Elliot S! Maggins' Superman novels Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday, I decided to give his new one, Lexcorp, a try. It's basically an autobiographical-style story of Lex Luthor in which Superman does not appear (and is only referenced as "the Alien"). It's great fun!
Next on the bookshelf is Gail Simone's novel Red Sonja: Consumed. Honestly, I never thought I'd be reading another prose novel about the fiery-haired swordswoman after the three (frankly) awful books that appeared back in the 1980s, but Simone is a terrifically entertaining author so I have high hopes for this. Here's the publisher's description of the book:
The warrior Red Sonja, the famous fiery She-Devil of Hyrkania, has never concerned herself with the consequences of her actions. She’s taken what she wanted, from treasure to drink to the companionship of bedfellows. She’s fought who deserved it (and sometimes those who didn’t). And she’s never looked back.
But when rumors start bubbling up from her homeland—rumors of unknown horrors emerging from the ground and pulling their unsuspecting victims to their deaths—and a strange voice begins whispering to her in her sleep, she realizes she may have to return to the country that abandoned her. And finally do the only thing that has ever scared her: confront her past.
“Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved.” - Tony Isabella
(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Mar 17 2025, 7:18pm)
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cats16
Gondolin
Mar 17 2025, 8:34pm
Post #4 of 7
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I went straight into work mode this morning and spaced on it being St. Patrick's Day. 
I'm happily breezing through Stanley Tucci's latest food book, What I Ate in One Year. It's part diary, part food log, with some recipes scattered throughout. I'd consider it a nice companion to Searching for Italy, if you've seen any of that show. Different, but you can tell it's from the same guy, except he's more candid in the book at times, lol.
Also getting back into Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses after jumping to some other stuff the past few weeks.
Ah, and the fairy romance books I read (to please my girlfriend), which are all the rage right now - A Court of Thorns & Roses. I read the first two, which absolutely thrilled her, and will probably resume the series at some point to continue making her very happy. Not my cup of tea, but the world-building had more depth than I expected.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
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Annael
Elvenhome
Mar 17 2025, 10:55pm
Post #5 of 7
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I re-read the entire Thursday Murder Club series
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Slowly, enjoying the fun. Joyce in particular becomes more delightful the more time you spend with her. The last book is a bit of a tear-jerker though. Can't wait to read his new book!
Finally found Whispers Underground at the library, the only "Rivers of London" book I hadn't yet read. One certainly picks up a lot of London history reading Aaronovitch's books. A bit difficult to read in places, as I'm fairly claustrophic.
Continue to work slowly through the French translation of Persuasion.
I don't think I've read Miss Pym. I've read everything else by Tey, must look for that.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Mar 17 2025, 10:55pm)
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Elvenhome
Mar 17 2025, 10:59pm
Post #6 of 7
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Are you aware of the BBC radio Agatha Christie podcasts?
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I found them on the podcast server I use. There are a lot of them, and very well done.
The most recent novel I read was "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson. My son said he had the book on his shelf but had never read it, so I thought I'd try it. It was disturbing but unputdownable.
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GNU Terry Pratchett
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
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Meneldor
Doriath
Apr 3 2025, 3:11am
Post #7 of 7
(27556 views)
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by CW "Mover" Lemoine
Former fighter pilot CW has written several action/thriller novels; this is his first venture into sci-fi, and it's pretty good. Believable characters, compelling story with an intriguing mystery gradually unfolding, and action that is both exciting and believable. I'm looking forward to the sequel, and expect it to lead into a good series. I've read novels by full-time professional writers that weren't as well-written as this one.
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. -Psalm 107
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